Method of making castle nuts



Sept. 20, 1927. 1,642,854

7 r J. F. GOLDING METHOD OF MiaKIl G CASTLE NUTS Filed April 1926 III N HI m i w iiiiiim iii Patented Sept. 20, 1927.

UNITED STATES JOHN F. GOLDING, 0F PHILADEIl'iIPI-IIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD 01E MAKING CASTLE NUTS.

Application filed April 24, 1926. Serial No. 104,478.

My invention relates to a hot cutting process and apparatus for rapidly and economically producing blanks for castle nuts, otherwise known as castellated nuts. Such nuts have, in addition to the usual features of nuts, upward projections on the crown of the nuts which may be interlocked by a pin or cotter pin, passed also through a transverse hole through the bolt. The castle nut blanks formed according to my invention are crowned and complete in every respect except the screw thread in the bolt hole, and are ready for tapping.

By my invention the nut blank is formed complete as above described at one operation which is one stroke of a die press. At such stroke the outside die cuts a heated and softened slug or other suitable piece of metal so as to shear and form smoothly all of the vertical sides of the blank, say six sides. At a time in this stroke when the outside die has done all or a considerable part of its out, and the soft metal of the blank is most or all confined within the outside die, the central perforating punch begins its action on the confined metal.

The result of this is that a considerable part of the soft metal is forced or held up against the castle-forming devices by the action of the punch so that a relatively high nut is formed, and correspondingly less metal passes out under the bottom edge of the outside die and into the trimming sheared off by said die in forming the vertical faces of the nut blank.

The castle-forming devices consist in strong ridges or fins standing out from the side of the punch and extending across the space between the punch and inner walls of the outside die, so that the castellations on the blank will extend radially, say six in number, from the bolt hole to the flat faces of the nut blank.

in the complete formation of the blank at one stroke of the press as above described it will be perfectly crowned on the top by the cutting pressure of the outside die which will draw down the soft metal at and near the lines of cut of said die so that the top of the blank will have a rounded contour down to the top edges of its vertical faces. But the metal is not similarlydrawn and rounded downward at the circular cutting line of the punch because the metal is to a considerable extent confined within the outside die (which has completely or partly of explanation,

finished its out) and soft metal which is forced .sidewise by the punch will to some extent cause a swelling up of metal near the middle of the crown of the nut and into the spaces between the castellating fins of the punch, so that the desired height of the middle of the crown of the blank around the bolt hole will be produced, which results further in allowing a greater length of screw thread when the blank is tapped.

The blank will be ejected or stripped from around the punch and from within the outside die by fingers which fill the spaces between the castellating fins and the punch and the walls of the die.

WVith such objects in view, as well as other advantages which may be incident to the use of the improvements, the invention consists in the procedure, and in the use of the parts and combinations thereof hereinafter set forth and claimed, with the understanding that the several necessary elements constituting the same may be varied in proportions and arrangement without departing from the nature and scope of the invention.

In order to make the invention more clearly understood there are shown in the accompanying drawings means for carrying the same into practical effect, without limiting the improvements, in their useful applications, to the particular constructions or steps of procedure which, for the purpose have been made the subject of illustration. In the said drawings Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of so much of a die press adapted for the production of castle nut blanks as is necessary for the understanding of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the punch taken on a line above the castellating projections or fins.

Fig. 3 is a bottom end view of the ejector.

Fig. 4 is a side view of the nut produced.

Fig. 5 is a top plan View of the same.

Referring to the drawings- 2 is the male die which is preferably fixed firmly but removably in the lower part of the press as a lower die. 3 is the outside or female and upper die fixed by a setblock 4 and set screw 5 in the die holder 6, the latter being vertically movable with the cross-head 7 of the press. The holder 6 also carries a hammer 8 secured therein by a set screw 9, and the hammer cooperates with an anvil part 10 of the bed of the press to flatten the heated and softened slug 1: to the form shown at to (Fig. 1). On the descent of the holder 6 the hammer performs its flattening operation on the heated slug which has been positioned beneath it and at the same time the die 3 cooperates to cut the blank w from a flattened slug to (Fig. 1), which has been positioned and centered between the dies and form the blank with smooth vertical sides. The unflattened metal is fed under the hammer 8, and the flattened metal under the die 3, by means set forth in my application No. 741,- 267, filed Oct. 2, 1924, or otherwise, and a description of feeding means is not necessary to an understanding of my present invention.

The hole cutter, punch or piercer 11 cooperates with the perforation 12 of the die 2 to very smoothly cut and perforate the nut blank removing therefrom a small core slug 2 which drops or is forced down through said perforation 12. The cutting operation of the dies 2 and 3 formsand removes from the blank 20 a ring-like scrap g the same being the outer rim of the slug which has thus been cut. This scrap y as itis made forces down a plate 13, or this plate is mechanically lowered at this instant, and when the die 3 rises the plate 13 is lifted and strips the scrap y up from around the die 2, and before the next flattened slug is centered between the dies the scrap is removed or swept away by suitable means.

The punch 11 moves with the holder 6 and die 3, having a head 15 fitted in slot 16 in an adjusting screw 17, the latter being screwed into the holder 6. By this screw 17 the punch is adjusted vertically so that its action on the slug or other metal is retarded relative to the outside die, and when this adjustment has been made the said die will complete, or to a considerable extent complete, its cutting action before the punch begins to perforate the slug.

The punch 11 is formed with outwardly extending castellating fins 11 of strong con struction, which extend for a considerable distance vertically and also extend out from the cylindrical surface of the punch to the walls of the outside die 3. These fins form the castellations of the crowns of the nut blanks as their lower edges become impressed in the soft metal of the blank at the time when the punch has finished" or nearly finished its piercing operation.

Around the piercer is arranged the blankejector 18 so as to be vertically slidable in theholder 6 and die 3. The ejector is loose and as the nut blank is cut the ejector is lifted by the blank, but it imposes no presand, when such sure endwise or down on the blank excepting the mere weight of the ejector, and the latter has no function to crown the blank. The ejector has yoke arms extending out through slots in the holder and these arms may be provided with adjustable stop screws, said arms and stop screws bein shown in my said application. When the holder 6 is lifted the screws encounter fixed parts of the press frame and the ejector is arrested and the finished nut blank is stripped from off the piercer and from within the die 3.

In order that the ejector may operate as above described its lower part is formed with vertically arranged fingers 18 shaped to fit closely between the fins 11 of the punch. By this construction the fins and the fingers strongly reinforce each other against deflection in any horizontal direction under the endwise pressure which has to be overcome in the forming of the castellations by the fins and in the ejection of the blank by the fingers.

Preliminary to the above described blankfori'ning operation the metal, in the form of slugs or any other suitable shape, is heated to make it sufliciently soft to cut smoothly and then supplied or fed, automatically or in any suitable manner, to cutting position between the dies 2 and 3. Such heating is or may be to a temperature of 1200 to 1500 F., more or less, as set forth in my said application and by the devices therein set forth or by other practicable means.

What I claim is 1. The method of making castle nut blanks which consists in heating the metal to make it sufiiciently soft to cut smoothly, and then cutting the metal along all of the vertical sides of the blank to be produced cutting is more or less completed and the metal is confined by said cutting means, perforating the blank and de pressing the crown of the blank at intervals and forming the castellations of the blank.

2. The metl 0d of making castle nut blanks which consists in heating the metal to make it sufficiently soft to cut smoothly, and then cutting the metal along all of the vertical sidesj'of the blank to be produced and thereby drawing and rounding down the top of the blank at its outer edges so as to crown the blank and, when such cutting is more or less completed and the metal is confined by said cutting means, perforating the blank, and depressing the crown of the blank at i'ntervals and forming the casteliations of the blank.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

JOHN F. GOLDING. 

